


want your body ouch for ouch

by mimizans



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bath Sex, Body Worship, Chroma Conclave Arc, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Life-Affirming Sex, M/M, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 07:37:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21115136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimizans/pseuds/mimizans
Summary: Shaun leans down and presses a soft kiss to Vax’s wet hair. “I’ll wait for you, my dear.”You always have, haven’t you?Vax thinks.Shaun’s fingers in Vax’s hair don’t stop moving. His newly short fingernails scrape against Vax’s scalp, sending pleasant shivers down Vax’s spine. As long as Vax has known him, the palms of Shaun’s hands have been soft and his nails have been smooth and even. Vax had taken Shaun’s hands and kissed them after the battle. Seeing Shaun's nails jagged and dirty would’ve made Vax cry if he hadn’t already had tears on his ash-streaked face. Vax had watched Shaun trim his broken fingernails during his bath and had almost cried again.





	want your body ouch for ouch

**Author's Note:**

> i set out to write a little smut thing and instead i wrote something that is RELATED to smut but is also viciously tender. that's my M.O. when it comes to these two, i think.

The air in the baths under Whitestone is heavy with warmth, but it’s a welcome change from the memory of dry, scorching heat in Thordak’s lair. The water bubbling around Vax is the perfect temperature: hot enough to act as a balm to Vax’s screaming muscles but not hot enough to burn his already overheated skin. The steam that drifts up from the water’s surface curls around Vax’s face and gives the room the soft edges of a dream. After the nightmare of a day they’ve had, Vax almost can’t believe that he’s where he is now: safe and pleasantly warm with Shaun’s legs against his back and Shaun’s hands in his hair. 

Vax sighs, a low, content sound, and leans back more snugly against Shaun’s legs. The water shifts around him, sending ripples out into the pool. Vax follows the movement with his eyes and doesn’t look away until the last of the disturbance fades from water’s glassy surface. “I’m not complaining,” Vax says, wrapping a hand around Shaun’s ankle, “but you don’t need to wait for me to finish up here. I know you’re tired.” His voice is almost a whisper. Anything else seems to echo too loudly in the underground space, and Vax has had enough of loud today.

Shaun’s fingers in Vax’s hair don’t stop moving. His newly short fingernails scrape against Vax’s scalp, sending pleasant shivers down Vax’s spine. As long as Vax has known him, the palms of Shaun’s hands have been soft and his nails have been smooth and even. Vax had taken Shaun’s hands and kissed them after the battle. Seeing his nails jagged and dirty would’ve made him cry if he hadn’t already had tears on his ash-streaked face. Vax had watched him trim his broken fingernails during his bath and had almost cried again. 

“Not tired enough to get to sleep by myself.” Shaun leans down and presses a soft kiss to Vax’s wet hair. “I’ll wait for you, my dear.” _You always have, haven’t you?_ Vax thinks. 

A moment of perfect quiet, nothing but the gentle sound of water. Then: “I love you, Shaun,” Vax says, because it’s the truth. 

“And I love you, my bird,” Shaun replies without hesitation.

Vax turns his head and kisses Shaun’s knee. He tips his head back in supplication, dark eyes bright with a request. It’s a two-step they’ve done many times. Shaun chuckles and obliges him. When he leans down and kisses Vax, his loose hair falls like a curtain around them. It’s an awkward kiss, being upside down, but Vax relishes it all the same. He can taste Shaun clean on his tongue and smell his slightly damp hair, not yet adorned with the oil he uses to keep it soft and tame. In this moment that’s all that Vax could ask for. Tal’dorei is safe, his family is safe, and Shaun’s lips are gentle against his. 

Shaun pulls away and smiles down at Vax, the sight inverted but no less dear for it. “Always so needy,” Shaun says, and Vax shivers with it. 

“Always,” Vax agrees, rising to his knees on the stone bench and turning to face Shaun in one swift movement. Shaun doesn’t flinch, but he does open his legs to let Vax get closer. Shaun’s robe is tied loosely around his waist and Vax unties it almost without thinking, his fingers nimble against the cotton. 

He leans up and kisses Shaun again, dirty and wet and close this time, and enjoys the feeling of Shaun’s chest and stomach under his roaming hands. Vax loves Shaun’s body - well, he loves everything about Shaun, but he especially loves the soft, rounded edges of him, the way Vax’s fingers can sink into his stomach and grip, the thick hair on his chest and belly that Vax can run his fingers through and rub his cheek against. (Vax very carefully doesn’t think about Shaun hitting the ground, his soft stomach torn open by vicious claws.) Vax is ambivalent about his own body - it’s a means to an end, most days, and he’s lucky to have one at all - but Shaun’s body feels different to him, like a work of art, a story built by his past, by the dry desert winds and vivid colors of Marquet, by the years of hard work in a country not his own, by the comfort that he earned and so richly deserves. Vax wonders if his own body will tell a story like that one day. He bets that if he asks Shaun, he’d say that it already does, and he’d fall all over himself to do what Vax is doing now, to run his hands over Vax’s prominent hip bones and worship him sweetly.

But Vax got here first, and he’s happy to make Shaun happy. He trails his mouth away from Shaun’s, kissing his nose and the swell of his cheek. He laughs lightly when Shaun instinctively tries to follow him, his lips a delicious red that Vax can’t help but reach up and test with his thumb. Shaun takes his thumb into his mouth and sucks, circling it with his tongue. The sensation shoots straight to Vax’s cock. When Vax pulls his thumb out of Shaun’s mouth a moment later he’s embarrassingly short of breath, but he powers onward, licking and kissing his way down Shaun’s jaw and neck, his hairy chest, his soft stomach. He doesn’t miss Shaun’s breath getting shallower above him, and he’s quite proud of himself when he sucks and bites a bruise into Shaun’s chest and Shaun outright moans. 

Vax takes a moment to rest his chin on Shaun’s stomach and gaze up at the man; he hopes he’ll never stop feeling a rush of joy when he finds Shaun already smiling back at him. “You are so beautiful, my Vax’ildan,” Shaun whispers. He reaches down and tucks Vax’s hair behind his ear. “And so kind.” Vax feels the heat rising on his face, but he doesn’t look away. “I am quite lucky to have you here with me still.” 

_I wouldn’t ever really be gone, you know,_ Vax wants to say. _I’d find a way to watch over you._ But while Vax gets more morbid by the day, even he realizes that would be cold comfort. He presses his cheek to Shaun’s stomach and breathes with him instead. 

Shaun takes Vax’s chin in his hand and leans down to kiss him softly. Vax kisses back as sweetly as he knows how.

Shaun winds his hands firmly in Vax’s hair. Vax figures that’s as good a sign as any; he presses a kiss to Shaun’s belly button to make him laugh and then wetly kisses his way down to Shaun’s cock. 

Shaun sighs when Vax takes it in hand and pumps gently before rubbing his thumb over the head. Vax presses light kisses along the underside of Shaun’s cock, starting at the head and working his way down to the balls, the skin delicate and soft under his lips. When Vax licks his way back up, he meets Shaun’s warm gaze and holds it, sucking the head of his cock into his mouth and licking the sensitive underside. Shaun inhales sharply. “Oh, that’s good,” he says, his words breathy. 

Vax gets as messy as he can, letting saliva leak out of his mouth and coat Shaun’s cock. As his tongue works the head, he uses his hand to stroke the shaft. Vax abruptly tightens his fingers around the base of Shaun’s cock and gives a vicious suck; Shaun cries out hoarsely above him, his body snapping towards Vax like a cut wire and forcing his cock further into Vax’s mouth. Vax doesn’t let up; instead, he sneaks a wet finger behind Shaun’s balls to rub at his perineum, making Shaun gasp and jerk forward again. Vax pulls off with a cough and laughs brightly. “Now who’s needy?”

Shaun untagles one hand from Vax’s hair and runs his thumb along Vax’s wet, red lips. He has that look on his face that he gets when he’s humoring Vax, and it’s never been anything but an incredible turn on. “Still you, my dear,” he says, and feeds his cock into Vax’s mouth in one smooth, practiced stroke. 

Vax only barely stops himself from gagging, but he does go light-headed with arousal. It’s second nature to lick and suck Shaun’s cock once it’s in his mouth. Vax grips the base with one hand uses the other to gently cup his balls, playing with one and then the other and then both. 

Shaun groans and mutters aborted curses and praise under his breath. The timbre and cadence of his voice during sex never fails to get Vax hard, and he feels his own cock swell under the warm bath water. He pushes his own arousal aside for now and focuses on Shaun, on sucking him the way that makes his breathing hitch and squeezing his balls the way that makes the hand in Vax’s hair tighten. They’re alive, despite everything, and Vax is going to remind them both. He closes his eyes and loses himself in the sensations, the motions, the acts of devotion. Every heartbeat they share is one that they fought for and won, every drop of blood still in their bodies is only there because they went into the lion’s den and made it back out. 

Shaun reaches down with his free hand and entwines their fingers. Vax squeezes, and Shaun squeezes back. 

Vax opens his eyes when he feels Shaun’s thighs go taut and Shaun’s balls tighten in his hand. The hand in Vax’s hair spasms and then clutches, fingers holding tight to wet strands. Vax resists the urge to reach down and furiously pump his own cock. He stays still as Shaun holds his head and comes into his mouth, the softest of whines escaping from between Shaun’s clenched teeth, his thrusts strong and erratic. Vax can feel him shaking. 

Shaun holds Vax there through the aftershocks as he breathes heavily and thrusts into Vax’s warm mouth, wringing out every bit of pleasure that he can. Vax keeps his tongue flat and lets him. He keeps one hand cupped around Shaun’s balls and the other hand in Shaun’s, anchoring him. 

Eventually, Shaun releases his grip on Vax’s hair and falls backwards, catching himself on his elbows. Vax lays his head on Shaun’s thigh and watches him breathe, watches his chest and stomach move and his cock soften and slowly strokes himself under the water, the movement of his hand barely disturbing the surface. 

“How do you keep getting better at that?” Shaun asks with a laugh, gazing down at Vax. “I thought the first time you did it was the best I’ve ever had, but you keep topping your own performances.” His voice is slightly hoarse and he’s flushed from his orgasm and his hair is in disarray and he’s _alive_ and Vax is so, so lucky to have him. 

“What can I say? You make me strive to do my best,” Vax says, nuzzling against Shaun’s thigh.

Shaun places his large warm palm against Vax’s cheek. “My love, I would be thrilled with whatever you had to give me.” Vax barely has time to be overwhelmed with adoration before Shaun uses that same large, warm hand to gently pinch his cheek. “But don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing down there,” he says, nodding down towards the motion of Vax’s hand in the water. “We’re going to go upstairs to the bedroom like civilized men so that I can finger you while you do that.”

Shaun must see the way that his words cause Vax’s hand to tighten on himself unconsciously, because he raises an eyebrow. He stands up and offers Vax a hand. 

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Vax says, and reaches out.

**Author's Note:**

> tell me what you thought? and come visit me on [twitter](https://mobile.twitter.com/witchjail) where gilmore loving hours are 24/7/365
> 
> title is adapted from "bath" by the island of misfit toys


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